Tourist in Torchwood
by ThatsHarrassmentSir
Summary: The team have an uninvited guest in the Hub. Who is she? More to the point, how did a tourist manage to just walk into Torchwood? Disclaimer: No, I don't own any of the characters except the tourist she's mine you can't have her!
1. Chapter 1

It had started as just another day. Well, just another day in torchwood, which meant a large scale weevil attack at 4am, and several hours of paperwork, and cover ups to follow. Jack had sent Gwen home for a day off with Rhys, while Tosh, Owen, and Jack took care of the rest of the day. They were relaxing around the hub, waiting for Ianto to close up the Tourist Information office, so he could make them coffee.

"What the fuck is taking Tea Boy so long!" grumbled Owen, stretched out on the couch by Tosh's desk. Tosh turned from the program running on her computer to glare at the lean doctor.

Jack was thinking much the same, but simply replied, "If you're so desperate for coffee, why don't you make it?"

"because he'd kill me if I touched his coffee machine." Owen's response was almost quiet enough to go unnoticed, so Jack decided to ignore it. Besides, it was true. Ianto reserved particularly creative punishments for those who messed with his precious machine.

"Or you could go up and man the tourist office yourself…"

"Oh god no! All those people with their stupid questions, How to I get to London from here? Where can I get a good meal? Do Welshmen really sleep with sheep?-"

"No!" Tosh whipped around again, blushing "Someone asked you that?"

"No, it would be so much more interesting if they would."

"So, do Welshmen really sleep with sheep?" the unfamiliar accent had all three agents lunging to their feet, guns drawn on the slim young woman standing at the door.

"Ummmm, I think I've taken a wrong turn somewhere?" the woman stared at the array of weapons pointed at her, and held her hands up in front of her.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Jack demanded

"Mmmmmy name is Danielle, and I was looking for a good coffee place in Cardiff?"

"Oh great, that's just GREAT! A tourist. A TOURIST! In Torchwood." Owen turned away, and seemed to be deciding whether to laugh or scream. Jack and Tosh lowered their weapons as well, staring at the woman who managed to sneak into Torchwood three's super secret base.

"Sorry, my fault." the woman (Danielle) said, her hands still raised. "I saw this piece of paper sticking out of the wall, and I just couldn't help but figure out how it got there. Then there was the security button behind the desk, and I can't imagine that a tourist office in Cardiff gets robbed often enough to need that." She smiled, "I just can't help it when I see a puzzle like that, I have to solve it."

"Jack! Jack we've got a problem…oh" Ianto raced into the hub, a cup in his hand. Jack took a moment to notice that Ianto had managed to run without spilling any of the coffee.

"Oh Ianto, thank you so much for the coffee!" the young tourist took the cup. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any trouble. I just couldn't help myself." She took a sip

And stopped. Her eyes closed, and she seemed to freeze for a second.

"That is….that is a thing of beauty. Where did you get this? That has got to be the best cup of coffee I've ever had. Is that Sidamo?"

Ianto avoided Jack's stare, nodding "combined with some Costa Rican"

"Fantastic!"

"HEY!" Jack had clearly had enough of the young woman. "Listen up! You have broken into a top secret government facility, and I'm this close to—"

"NO YOU LISTEN," The tourist took a quick breath, and turned

"Hold this for me please," she handed the cup to Ianto

"I'm perfectly well aware that I have blundered into a top secret government-" she glanced up, "dinosaur park?! You have a Teradactyl?! OH WOW!" She stopped, and gave herself a mental shake.

"Sorry, let me start that again. I'm perfectly aware that I have blundered into a top secret government…whatever, and that you can't let me leave like this. So, either my body is going to fished out of the bay sometime next week, or you're going rufee me and I'm going to wake up tomorrow wondering just how many drinks I had. Either way, I'm going to enjoy the ONLY DECENT cup of coffee I've found in Great Britain, and stare at the only living Teradactyl in existence because even in the best case, I'm not going to remember it. So, go figure out what you're going to do with me, and let me drink my coffee in peace!"

"Damn Americans." This was said just under her breath, as she turned.

"Thank you again for the coffee, Ianto." She retrieved her cup, and stalked toward the water tower to stare up at the dinosaur soaring above them.

Jack looked as though he'd been hit in the face with a fish. For a long moment he stared at their unwanted guest, then

"Tosh, Owen, my office. Ianto watch her, if she touches anything, shoot her."

"I'm not going to touch anything." But Jack had already heading up to his office, Tosh and Owen in tow.

Ianto wandered over to the young woman.

"Tell me something…do you ever get tired of looking at it?" She didn't look at Ianto, preferring to watch the magical sight above her.

"Her " she glanced over before looking back up. "Not 'it,' her, her name's Mafanwy and I watch her every chance I get."

She grinned. "How did you get her? Or has she always been here?" She finally tipped her head back to take a sip of her coffee, and looked at Ianto.

"It's classified." The standard evasion slipped from his lips.

"it's not like I'm not going to remember it." She smiled, then frowned, "at least I hope that's all that happens."

Ianto relented slightly, "it was with Jack, the 'damn American,' we caught it in a warehouse in Cardiff's dockside area." He grinned, "It was our first date…sort of."

"So, what're the odds?" he looked at her quizzically, but she had turned back to Mafanwy. "between death and a blackout?"

Oh "We have an amnesia pill, so we'll probably erase your memory, and make it look like you went on a bender."

"The sad part is that, I finally figure out where to get a decent coffee, and I'm not going to remember it. I mean what's the likelihood that I'm going to think "I want a cup of really good coffee…I know! The tourist office!" She handed Ianto the empty cup (funny he didn't remember her drinking it,) and turned as Jack came back down the stairs toward them.

"It was nice meeting you, Ianto." The young woman shook his hand.

"You too."

"You, with me" Jack pointed at the woman. She fell in step with Jack, as he walked past, but looked confused as he stepped onto what looked like a flagstone. Jack was impressed when she seemed to mentally shrug, and hop onto the stone with him. She did grab him, when the stone begin to rise, and Jack didn't even try to hide the grin.

"Okay, you're going to mash me against the roof, and fake a tragic piano incident" Jack chuckled, "How do you expect to escape this?"

"Look up." Jack prompted.

"There's a hole in the roof?!…Has anyone ever fallen in?"

"What are you, Welsh?"

"What?"

"Never mind," Jack was experiencing a little déjà vu. He remembered this same conversation with Gwen a few years earlier.

"Okaaaay, so how often have you had tourists wandering into your…whatever this is?"

"You're the first." Jack gave her a flirtatious glance. "Although maybe I should start leaving the door open."

"Down boy, I happen to know you've got a boyfriend, and he has coffee."

"You're rejecting me for coffee?!" Jack tried for hurt, but couldn't stop the chuckle.

"It's amazing coffee." She grinned.

Jack was about to make another comment, when she put a hand up to stop him. He turned to see Mafanwy glide by, almost close enough to touch. The young tourist's eyes glowed.

"Thank you." The words were quiet and awe filled, and Jack grinned like a boy. Usually, he had Mafanwy go to her alcove when using the lift, but on an impulse, he left Mafanwy out for the girl to see. Now he was glad he had. It was too bad that she wasn't going to remember any of it.

The lift finally reached the Plas, and they stepped off.

"You want a cuppa?" Jack was working on Standard Operating Procedure. Get her a drink, slip in the retcon, and get her home, and set up the scene.

"You don't need to."

"Pardon?"

"Just give me the pill. I hate that I'm going to lose all of this, but I'd rather keep you from having to come after me."

Jack reached into his pocket for the retcon, and found a flier from the tourist office.

He handed over the pill, and watched to make sure she took it.

"Where are you staying?"

"You don't need to walk me to my door, I'm a big girl."

"Now what kind of a gentleman would I be, if I let you wander to streets with no memory?" Jack tried to lighten the mood with the joke, but he wasn't sure he'd succeeded. They walked on to her hotel, and up to her room in silence.

"So, what do I need to do, to make this retcon thing work? Pour all the bottles of alcohol down the sink? Leave a glass out with whiskey in it?

"Leave it to me. I have more experience." Jack smiled.

"This was not what my parents had in mind when they warned me about letting strange men into my room…actually, waking up with no memory is probably EXACTLY what my parents had in mind when warning me about strange men in my room."

"I think this is for you too."

She looked at the flier confused. "It's where Ianto gets his coffee. You must've made an impression on him."

"Thank him for me." She smiled. "Well, thank you for an eventful day."

She shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Danielle."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed. This is my first fan fiction, and I was a little nervous. **

**So, I need to say thanks especially to my friend, beta, and collaborator: TheAngelsHaveMyPhonebox!**

**So here are all the things I should have written in the first chapter. This is an AU. (I can't face a torchwood without Tosh, Owen, and Ianto in it.) It is mostly fluffy, although there may be some more serious stuff later. I'll try and warn you ahead of time. I hope you continue to enjoy.**

Chapter 2

Ianto walked briskly through the crowds and into a small nondescript coffee shop tucked between large, brightly lit store windows. It was Cardiff's best kept secret. Only the true coffee connoisseurs knew about Joe Coffey's, and that was how they liked it. Ianto slipped into the small, dimly lit space, and sniffed appreciatively. He loved the blend of aromas in the shop, usually several different coffees blended with the scent of baking. It was why Ianto stayed away from the big stores like Starbucks. They smelled of coffee, but rarely anything else, but Joe prided himself as much on the fresh pastries he served as much as on the perfectly roasted coffees. Not that he baked them, but he did have a star pastry chef in his wife Alynn. Together they had created the perfect temple to their favourite passions.

"Ianto! It's good to see you! Come I've just made up a new blend, and you're one of the few people I know who's appreciate it." Joe's booming voice filled the room, and caught the attention of several patrons.

Ianto willingly moved to the counter and took the cup offered. He sniffed the aroma of the coffee, and then carefully sipped a tiny amount to roll around his tongue.

"Mmmmm, fruity, with citrus highlights, this is perfect for Gwen. It would go well with those lemon danishes she loves."

"Try this!" Joe had pulled out a slice of some sort of loaf from the display counter. Ianto willingly bit into the slice, and revelled in the tastes of lemon, and ginger. He sipped the coffee again, and delighted in the combination of flavours.

"Amazing, those are exactly right together. How do you do it?"

"It's Alynn, she's my secret weapon. She can taste any of my coffees and come up a dozen different recipes to compliment it." Joe grinned.

"Please add the lemon loaf and the coffee to my order." Ianto smiled.

"Never!" Joe was indignant, "That was cup between friends, and know it!"

"You'll never make your millions, if you keep giving away your product." Ianto teased.

"Maybe not, but you want a half pound of that new coffee, and a full lemon loaf in addition to your regular order, right?" Joe grinned again.

"Definitely, thanks Joe." Ianto paid for his purchases, tucked them into a cloth bag he'd brought along, and headed back out toward the hub.

"Excuse me," a young woman had come up to the counter from a secluded table she'd been sitting at, "What was that man's name? He just seems familiar somehow."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the short chapter. I this one should be better! Thanks to everyone for reading. Hope you enjoy! Oh, the comment: 'People tell me things…' is from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I can't help it, quotes just slip in without my noticing. **

Ianto put on more speed. The team was chasing after a Pyrofile which was scorching much of downtown Cardiff. The fire crews were already out taking care of a dozen fires. Jack had sent Ianto and Gwen to cut the alien off armed with…water guns. Ianto wasn't even letting himself think about having a water fight with an alien. He had to trust Jack on that one, but the plastic super-soaker still felt strange in his hands.

They burst onto the street and a blast of heat nearly knocked them over.

"Oh God!" Gwen winced away from the furnace-like heat wave.

The Pyrofile was less than a block away, and moving almost casually toward them. The skin on Ianto's face felt sunburnt, and matched Gwen's reddened face.

"Ready?"

"Ready!"

They pumped up the water guns and fired at the Pyrofile, just as the other three came up from behind and added to the attack. The Pyrofile screamed horribly and finally collapsed into pieces on the ground.

"Okay, clean up!" Jack had moved up to the remains of the Pyrofile "Ianto get the SUV. Tosh, and Owen on clean up. Owen, I want you to take a look at Gwen and Ianto back at the Hub. I don't like how close they got to that." Jack was looking very satisfied with the day.

Ianto headed back down the street back to the SUV.

"Ianto!" Ianto's head whipped around. The young woman was leaning against a wall, her arms crossed in front of her. "What is that?"

Ianto tried to come up with a convincing lie, but his mind could only come up with one response:

"Jack!"

"Jack…I remember that name…your boyfriend right?" Danielle seemed extraordinarily pleased by this glimmer of memory.

"JACK!!"

"What?!" Jack called back over his shoulder, as he continued to study the Pyrofile.

"You need to come see this." Ianto still couldn't think of any explanation.

"Ianto I'm a little busy right now. What could possibly be that import—" Jack stopped dead, and stared at the young tourist. His mind kept wondering what were the odds of this girl being here at this exact time.

"Hello again Jack," Danielle smiled at two the handsome men standing in front of her. "How's the dinosaur park?"

The team had barely made it back to the hub before Jack began barking out orders.

"Owen, keep an eye on our guest. You three to the conference room, now!" He marched up the steps, followed by the others.

"Like I don't have enough to do." The doctor grumbled, "I need Gwen and Ianto to report for a physical!" He yelled at the retreating backs.

Owen turned to glare at the young woman who had somehow become his problem. "What am I supposed to do with you?" he demanded.

"How about I sit quietly, and watch, while you get on with your work?" the problem suggested quietly.

"It's not a theatre, and I'm not here to perform!" Owen was growling now.

"I thought operating rooms were called theatres here" Owen glared again, "Okay, okay, I'll just sit quietly and not watch, then." The problem smirked slightly, hands up to placate the doctor.

"Fine, you sit there." Owen pointed to the steps leading into the medical area, "Don't move, and don't bother me. I have an autopsy to perform." At least they'd put the Pyrofile on the table. Probably Ianto, that boy needed to relax, but at least it meant he didn't have to drag the corpse up here from the morge.

Owen began to set out his equipment, and mentally run through the autopsy procedures. He needed to find something to cut through the rocky exoskeleton. This one was definitely going to be a challenge.

"Just how do you perform an autopsy on a rock creature?" The tourist's voice seemed to echo his own thoughts.

"It's called a Pyrofile, and I have no idea." Owen said thoughtfully, "but I'm very good at improvising." He pulled out a piece of technology that he had been wanting to try out for a while. As far as he could tell, it was a hand-held, alien version of a cutting torch. "I think this'll do the trick." Owen couldn't help the flash of anticipation, or the grin it caused.

"Should I be worried?" The young tourist smiled slightly.

"Of course not, I would never put someone in my charge in danger." Owen replied, absently, playing with the buttons as he spoke. "This should just make it easier to get through the…" _what is a Pyrofile's skeleton called anyway_, "uh, carapace."

"right." The tourist watched carefully, muscles tensed as though ready to dodge.

"What you don't trust me?"

"Would you, in my position?"

"Good point." Owen turned back to his toy. He aimed the device at the Pyrofile, and pushed the button he thought was 'GO.' The device began a soft whirr, and a beam of light shot out, melting a hole through the alien's chest plate. Owen breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He hated it when his impressive gadgets failed to impress. He cut open the chest cavity and began examining the interior.

"I don't mean to question your abilities, but do you know what you're looking at?" the tourist was leaning over the hand rail now, trying for a better look.

"No clue, but I'll run some scans on its composition, and maybe if I'm a little bit lucky, I can figure out some of its major…er, organs." Owen was beginning to enjoy the conversation, as he continued to work his way through the autopsy. "Look I can't keep calling you 'the tourist,'" _not to mention 'the problem.' _"I seem to recall your name is Danielle?"

"My name is Danielle, but nearly everyone calls Dani. You're welcome to use it, if you want." The young woman smiled.

"Dani it is." Owen smiled back. "So Dani, where are you from? Not from around here, you're missing, what Jack calls, the beautiful welsh vowels. And what brings you to Cardiff?"

"I really am just a tourist. I come from Vancouver Island in Canada. I just finished my psychology degree, and I'm taking a break before I start looking for a job."

"With psychology? Good luck with that." Owen snorted, "Katy switched from psychology to pre-med because of the lack of job prospects."

"Katy?" Dani grinned. "Is that your girlfriend?"

"No!" Owen's voice was sharp, "no, she was but…you know you ask a lot of questions for an invader." He turned away in the guise of studying the carcass on the table.

"Okay, sorry, so…" Owen glanced at the young woman before continuing his work. Dani looked like she'd been dropped into a minefield, and didn't know, which way to step. The silence was starting to get uncomfortable "So, at the risk of asking more questions, what are you're top five alien autopsies?" She grinned engagingly.

Owen looked up at her, startled, and then chuckled weakly, as much in relief than at the humour. "Well, I think the stomach contents of a Hoix can be very entertaining."

"Why, what's a Hoix?" Dani asked, taking a breath as the tension in the room dissipated slightly.

"A Hoix is basically the eating machine of the universe. They eat anything and everything they can get their hands on. So, you can find some of the most interesting things from a Hoix stomach, including several of our best technological doodads." Owen winked.

Dani laughed.

"Then there are the Raxicoricophallopritorians, who are fairly simple, except when they're still squashed in their human suits."

"Human suits?! I take it they aren't the we-come-in-peace types then, eh?" Dani continued to smile.

"Nope, they're the lets-blow-up-the-world-and-sell-the-pieces types. We haven't had to deal with them often. Jack and his Doctor took care of the last big threat from them a few years ago."

The young woman looked confused. "Aren't you his doctor?"

"Not this Doctor. He's a…I can't believe I'm telling you any of this." Owen shook his head. He couldn't believe he'd even mentioned Katy in front of this strange woman.

"People tell me things, I'm approachable, besides I won't remember it." Dani paused for a moment, "Although I seem to recall saying that before."

Owen grinned, "That's the problem with the retcon, the more things you repeat, the more you remember."

"Oh, I'll have to…" Dani chuckled, "I was going to say 'I'll have to remember that,' but that's just not going to happen is it."

"No, probably not," Owen smiled, as he collected his samples for analysis. "So, do you remember the Pterodactyl yet?"

"The Pterodactyl really is real?! I thought maybe it was a hallucination. Where?" Dani voice pitched up in excitement.

Owen smiled as he gestured back up the stairs. He wondered if there was a way he could use Mafanwy to get women…


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks again to everyone who is reading, reviewing, and everyone who's put this story on their favourites and alerts lists. I feel all warm and tingly. **

**Sorry, another short chapter, more of a continuation of the last one. I'll try to get a longer chapter out soon.**

* * *

"What's this?" Jack's voice cracked through the quiet conversation. The girl jumped away from the computer she was working on, as if it had burned her. She stared, shocked, up to where Jack stood with his team. Owen spun to look up at Jack as well.

"What, Dani asked if there was anything she could do?" Owen defended, looking both guilty and defiant.

"So you LET her on the COMPUTERS!" Jack appeared to be heading for an apoplectic fit. He raced down the stairs to stand within inches of the doctor.

Tosh was right on Jack's heels. She shouldered the tourist out of the way and began checking the computer for signs of tampering.

"What was she doing?" Toshiko asked sharply, searching her precious computers for tampering.

Now Owen looked sheepish. "She was writing my reports."

"She what!?" Jack

"I don't mind. I like writing." The tourist said.

"That's not the point!" Jack snapped. He turned back to Owen," You let a complete stranger onto the hub's computer. Who knows what she's gotten into in there? She could've downloaded a virus. You've compromised our security."

"There's nothing wrong with the computer, Jack." Tosh spoke quickly, trying to placate their leader, "She was…just writing a report." Tosh glanced at Owen, smiling slightly "You'd never have passed this off as yours, Owen."

"What? Why?"

"It's well organized and makes sense."

"Well, I was planning on just slipping it into the file, without anyone noticing." Owen muttered.

"I can't believe you sometimes!" Jack had started pacing.

"I was right here the whole time, watching. I would've caught her if she tried anything." Owen was still trying to defend himself.

"You're feeding the Weevils!"

"What!"

"For a month!

"WHAT!"

"Go now Owen! Before I decide to give you what you deserve!" Jack had gone from yelling to a sudden menacing quiet. Owen beat a hasty retreat to the autopsy room, and Ianto appeared with coffee. No one had even seen him leave. Jack snagged his cup without appearing to look. He took a long swallow, and seemed to physically take hold of his temper. Ianto quietly passed out mugs until everyone had a cup of coffee.

He leaned over to the young woman

"Take Owen's. He'll be too busy for coffee for a while."

"I wasn't trying to get anyone in trouble. I'm just not used to sitting and waiting." The young woman glanced at Jack, "Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine. He's always fine. Hopefully, he'll take a few minutes to calm down before--." Ianto sent a gently amused look at Jack's back.

Jack turned, and pointed at the girl. "You, retcon, now!"

Ianto gave her a sympathetic look.

Jack continued to glare at her. "I mean it. I want you out of here before you corrupt any more of my staff!"

"Alright, but just so you know. I never drink red wine, it gives me migraines. And you should probably take this back" The young woman smiled slightly as she held out the address for Joe Coffey's, and took the pill Jack held out to her.

"Duly noted." Okay so the Cab Sav wasn't the best choice. Jack filed it away for the next set up.

"Try martinis, my friends and I tend to enjoy trying out the martini menu. It's possible that I'd do that by myself, barely. So, are we flying or taking the stairs?" She grinned.

"I'm not showing you any more of this place than I need to." Jack grumbled. This girl was too smart for her own good.

Jack made a final check around the hotel room, The girl was asleep on the bed, curled up in the blankets. A bill from the bar downstairs showed a night of martini tasting, and Ianto was making sure the bartender would remember her as the young woman sitting at the bar, trying out the martini menu. Tosh was putting the martinis on the girl's credit card. She had most of her clothes on, and the few that Jack had removed for comfort were scattered in a ragged line from the door to the bed, as though carelessly thrown off. Jack slipped out of the room, and picked up Ianto by the bar entrance. With any luck, Torchwood would never see this girl again.


	5. Chapter 5

Tosh glanced at the CCTV footage from the Plass. They had taken to having the footage from around the Hub on all the time. She had to take a second look. On the screen was the tourist, staring absently at the invisible lift.

"Ummm Jack, you might want to take a look at this." Tosh called out.

Owen wandered over to Tosh's station, and gave a slight chuckle. "Oh look our pet tourist is back."

"What!" Jack's head popped out of his office door, and he moved quickly to the screens. He scowled at the image. Gwen and Ianto left their work to stare at the television.

Owen began humming just under his breath. It took a moment for the others to figure out the song

"The cat came back?" Tosh smirked.

"The very next day." Owen seemed to be enjoying their tourist's antics

"That's not helping Owen." Jack snapped.

"She's not doing anything. She's just looking at the water tower." Gwen said soothingly. "We just have to stay out of her way for a few more days, maybe a week. I mean she's on vacation, how long can she be here for?"

"It sounded to me like she's just drifting, so she could be here for while. Guess it depends on whether anything peaks her interest." Owen continued to smirk at the screen.

"Alright no one leaves until that girl is gone!" Jack stalked back to his office.

"I'm sure that's going to work. What if we have a rift alert?" Owen commented sarcastically, but without its usual bite. The group slowly broke up, and went back to their work.

Tosh couldn't help glancing at the screen, watching the young woman as she slowly turned away from the water tower with a thoughtful expression.

"Jack, we have a problem." Ianto burst into Jack's office.

"Oh, what now." Jack sounded almost resigned.

"Mafanwy's gotten out. She's flying around Cardiff somewhere."

Jack's head dropped into his hands, as though trying to shut out the day. He mumbled something that sounded to Ianto like "can't catch a break." He straightened up,

"Has the girl left?" Jack looked hopefully at Ianto.

"Tosh said that she left with what looked like a tour group about five minutes ago."

"Well, we can't leave a 10 meter long Pterodactyl out to terrorize the neighbours. We'll deal with it, if it comes up." Jack headed back out to the common area.

"Owen, Gwen, Tosh we have a situation." Jack swiped a hand across his forehead. "Mafanwy has escaped. We think she's still in Cardiff, but we have no way of knowing how long she been gone. Gwen talk to the police, see if anyone has called in a report on flying monsters, dinosaurs, or anything out of the ordinary. Tosh check the CCTV network, maybe we'll get lucky. Ianto get the dinosaur nuts from the SUV. Owen you'd better have some kind of tranquilizer, just in case." Jack dropped onto the couch tiredly, as the team scrambled. This was not his week.

Gwen was first with information "There's an incident on Queen Street. People are being attacked by a 'dragon.' It sounds right."

Tosh began typing furiously, calling up the cameras on Queen Street.

"That's Mafanwy alright."

"What, she decided to go _shopping_?" Owen asked

Jack ignored the question. "You three with me. Tosh, you're on coms, keep an eye on Mafanwy. If she takes off, let us know." Jack was up, and heading for the Suv, followed by the team. The four slid into the SUV, and took off for Queen street.

Tosh glued her eyes to the screen, watching Mafanwy stumbling around the crowds of shoppers. Suddenly, something else caught her eye. "Oh no!"

Finding Mafanwy was probably the easiest part of the job. She stood in the middle of Queen Street like a moving modern art sculpture. The whole team stopped in mid-run, gaping in shock. The young tourist stood in front of Mafanwy with a bar of dark chocolate in her hand. Jack led the rest forward. As they got closer, they heard a pleasant mezzo-soprano voice singing in a language Jack thought was almost Welsh, but that he couldn't place.

"Ummm help, anyone?" The Pterodactyl reacted to the lack of singing with a screech. "Nice dinosaur." The young woman continued singing the same song.

"Is there a reason you're singing an Irish drinking song?" trust Ianto to identify the song.

"Because she doesn't like anything else in my repertoire." The young woman took a moment to answer. Mafanwy darted forward, and grabbed the chocolate, swallowing it wrapper and all. The girl strangled a scream, took a deep breath and started the song again.

Jack came up behind the young tourist's shoulder. "We have to stop meeting like this."

"We've met?" The young woman was now sneaking conversation in between phrases.

"It'll come to you. Ianto, see if you can get Mafanwy to move away from our friend here."

Ianto called to the Pterodactyl. She tilted her head, and looked at the Welshman with one eye. Ianto began speaking softly in Welsh to the huge creature. Mafanwy continued to stare at Ianto. Suddenly, she swung around, wings spread for balance, toward the well dressed young man, and lurched toward him awkwardly. As she turned, her wing struck the young tourist, who dropped to the ground. Gwen and Jack started forward toward the girl, but were stopped as Mafanwy craned her neck to stare at them menacingly. Ianto jumped forward to regain the unwieldy creature's attention. It was time to try the new trick he'd been teaching her.

"Mafanwy. Mafanwy! Go Home." Ianto's voice firmed, "Mafanwy, Home!"

The Pterodactyl stared at Ianto for a long second

"Mfanwy, Go Home!"

Mafanwy continued to stare at Ianto, finally she stretched her oversized wings, gave an awkward run, and took off. She flapped hard, and finally dragged herself above the buildings around her. Ianto took a deep breath, as Mafanwy circled once and headed back toward the bay.

The young woman had managed to get to her knees. Owen was already examining the gash on the girl's head.

"Okay Dani, lets take a look at you. See if you've managed to lose anything to Ianto's pet."

"I'm alright, just a little shaken. It didn't hurt me." The young woman looked confused. "How do you know my name?"

"Like Jack said, it'll come to you." Owen continued his examination.

"You've got a nasty bump just about here." Owen touched a gash on the girl's head. She winced, "and I'd bet you've got a mild concussion."

"Did I fall?" The girl appeared to be even more confused.

"You don't remember getting hit?"

"I was hit?"

"Definitely concussed." Owen muttered to himself. "I'll know more when I can do a more thorough examination."

"I think it was looking for you." She looked glassily at Ianto. "It swooped down, and cornered a fellow in a suit. It kind of looked like a dog begging for a bone. So, I just did what I could to distract it." She muttered dazedly, "chocolate, I don't know what I was thinking."

"I told you, you spoil her too much." Jack had come up to the group during the conversation. Gwen had moved to corral the few witnesses still hanging around the street.

"She went home didn't she?" Ianto looked a little defiant. "Did you open the air vent? Otherwise, she'll be sitting outside the Hub, crying."

"I called Tosh, She's opened the vent, and she'll close it once Mafanwy's back." Jack put a reassuring hand on Ianto's shoulder. He turned to the doctor and the tourist.

"How's the dinosaur wrangler?"

Owen glanced at Jack "She may have a minor concussion, and I think things are starting to look familiar."

The young woman was looking hard at Owen, Ianto, and Jack.

"You do look familiar…Five favourite alien autopsies?"

"As I said, things are coming back to her." Owen looked slightly smug.

"You chatted about your top five alien autopsies?" Ianto shook his head.

"I only remember two." The young woman commented, dazedly. "a Hoix? and a Ratco…Ratty-calico…

"Raxicoricophallipritorian. I think we only got to two." Owen replied. He continued to keep an eye on the young woman.

"I need you to stay here." Jack spoke to the young woman, "I need to be sure you're not going to run off."

"I doubt I'd get very far, even if I did plan to take off."

"I still need your word."

"I'm not going anywhere, and as Doctor…Owens?"

"Doctor Owen Harper." Jack supplied with a sour smile. No point in getting into a temper now, he thought resigned.

"As Doctor Harper said, things are starting to look familiar. I want answers."

"Alright. Gwen, Ianto, Owen we have a major clean up here. We need to round up everyone who was on this street. Check the bars near here, I'm betting most of the bystanders are going to want a drink."

Owen caught hold of the young woman's arm, and helped her to stand up "Let's get you out of the middle of the road, at least." He supported her as she wobbled over to the SUV.

"Just settle yourself in here, and we'll be back in a moment."

The team scattered on their mission, and Dani relaxed in the backseat.


	6. Chapter 6

**So, thanks again for the reviews. It's wonderful to know that my little story is being well received. Particularly thanks to specialfrancine. I love your review! Hope everyone's still enjoying this.**

"So…" Jack looked a little bewildered, "what am I going to do with you."

"You could give me the pill you gave all of those other people." The young woman was looking a little apprehensive

"It didn't work the last two times." Owen muttered. The young tourist glanced at him in surprise. Obviously he wasn't quiet enough.

"Okay, straight answers, how many times have we met?" She was now staring at jack with a hard expression.

"Three times, counting this one."

"And why is it that you've rufeed me twice, and failed both times?"

"Well…we keep running into each other, and that tends to counteract the uh…rufee."

"I see. Am I going to go home, and jump off a building because you've overdosed me on whatever it is you've been giving me?"

"Would you rather the alternative?" Jack's voice had hardened in annoyance. Owen was sure it was to avoid the answer to her last question.

"So, Dani, are you ready to visit the Hub, again?" Owen tried to divert the young woman's attention.

"When did I say you could use my…" The tourist broke off, then muttered "Oh yeah, I liked you." Owen smirked slightly, as she resumed her normal voice. "I take it the Hub is you're super secret government base. Why would you even take me there, twice?"

"We didn't have the choice, the first time." Jack grumbled.

"Oh yeah…I remember…the hidden door in the tourist office with the paper sticking out of it." Dani got up from her place on the ground. "You really should just give me whatever it is you're going to give me and send me on my way. It would be safer all the way around."

"Owen's going to check you over for anomalies." Jack demanded, "There's got to be something going on here, besides horrible luck. He might as well treat you for that concussion, while he's at it. Mafanwy's love taps can knock out lesser mortals."

"Fine, take me to your top secret base, see if I care. I will be VERY annoyed if I end up in a ditch somewhere, though."

"I think that tap rattled her brains a bit." Owen murmered to Ianto, with a smile.

The team was silent as they drove back to the Hub. Usually, they would talk about the mission, but the addition of their prisoner inhibited the conversation. The young tourist was squashed in between Gwen and Ianto. She sat with a slightly amused expression, and seemed content to simply watch the looks being cast around her. Jack, in particular, sent a number of glares and glances at various members of his team, which were often replied to with eye rolls. Finally, Jack noticed her expression.

"What are you smirking about?" He growled

"I was simply enjoying the conversation." She responded, smiling slightly.

"Nobody's spoken since we got in the car." Gwen mentioned.

"And yet so much has been said." She murmured quietly, and closed her eyes. "You know, you really shouldn't use different team members as minders every time, especially if you're worried about my corrupting them."

"I'm trying to find one that's immune." Jack replied, his lips twitching in an effort not to smile. He was determined to remain in a bad mood.

Ianto rolled his eyes.

The team had barely returned to the Hub when Gwen took the young woman's arm, and walked her to the lounge area. The rest of the team headed for the conference room. Tosh gave the girl a shy, encouraging smile, before sliding past to follow the team. Gwen headed for what passed for the kitchen, and in a few minutes she returned to the couch with two cups of tea.

"Sorry, it's worth my life to touch Ianto's coffee machine. You'll have to make due with tea."

"Tea's fine. Any reason for the special treatment now?" the young woman smiled, and took a sip.

"No, no," Gwen smiled brightly, "No, I just thought it would be nice to have a bit of a chat."

"Okay." The young woman continued to smile.

"So, what is your name?"

"Danielle, but most people call me Dani." Dani took another sip of her tea.

"Last name?"

"Pelletier" Dani replied.

"Where are you from, Dani?" Gwen settled more comfortably into the couch, and plastered an interested look on her face. She prided herself on her interrogation skills.

"Canada. A small town just outside of Victoria, BC." The girl politely blank face peeked Gwen's interest even more.

"I've heard it's beautiful there." Gwen decided to back off a little. This was supposed to be friendly conversation, not an interrogation.

"It is. It's called the Garden City for a reason. There are flowers everywhere. It's very English, and…quaint, I guess. It's also one giant tourist trap, so things can get just a little expensive." Dani held her fingers in a pinch. The young woman seemed to relax, as she talked about her home town.

"So, have you got any family?" Gwen pried slightly

"Yes, both my parents are still living, and I have two sisters." Dani continued to looked at Gwen with a slight smile.

"Names?"

"Parents are Gaspard, and Leanne. My sisters are Catherine, and Elizabeth."

"Danielle Pelletier. That's a very French name…" Gwen left the sentence hanging.

"My grandfather emigrated from Alsace, as a young man." The young woman had begun to look almost indulgent. "Do you have enough for your report yet? Anything else I can tell you?"

"I'm not…" Gwen stopped, blushing slightly, "Sorry, occupational hazard. I was a police officer when I was recruited to Torchwood. I still have a tendency to interrogate people."

"No problem. I don't have anything to hide." Dani grinned suddenly, "Besides, one of you has been in my hotel room, twice. And, I'm betting Captain Jack up there knows everything about me by now, including my favourite soup."

"Probably." Gwen grinned. "He does like to know who's hanging around his Torchwood."

"I'm not 'hanging around his Torchwood.' I'm just trying to have a decent vacation." Dani was indignant.

"It seems to amount to the same thing with you." Gwen's smiled to ease the sting of her words.

"Can I help it if he can't keep his secret organization, secret?" Dani shrugged.

"Rhys, my fiancé Rhys, calls this place 'Bloody Torchwood!' He's always waiting for me til all hours, or putting up with some crazy situation."

"More proof, how secret can it be if your family members know? How does he take it? All the craziness, I mean." Dani asked quietly

"Better than I deserve most times. He's an amazingly understanding man. Although at times I feel like my job is the entertainment in his boring day."

"He's must be some kind of paragon. My last boyfriend wouldn't wait for the station break. He'd spend the whole time flipping around the channels." 

The two women grinned at each other.

By the time the rest of the team appeared from the conference room, the two women were curled up on the couch, chatting like old friends.

The young woman looked up, "So what's the verdict? Lethal injection?" The joke almost hid her anxiety.

"Don't tempt me." Jack glared at the young tourist. Behind him, Ianto rolled his eyes and smiled slightly at the girl. He then turned and headed for the coffee machine.

Jack continued. "We're giving you another amnesia pill, and this time, we're going to find some way to keep you away from here."

"Good luck." Owen muttered.

"I'm sorry but you've put your super secret base under one of the top tourist attractions in Cardiff, and I won't remember seeing it. I'll probably be back, tomorrow." the young woman said.

Jack grumbled.


	7. Chapter 7

**Dipping into the serious for a few chapters, so if you're into the fluff, you may want to skip this for a couple of chapters. I'm not sure about these chapters, so let me know what you think. Hope you like it.**

Ianto straightened and filled the pamphlet holders in the tourist office. He hadn't had much time up in the office lately, but the atmosphere was a little too tense. Gwen was trying to stage a mutany, and Jack was dealing with it by becoming autocratic. Owen was taking shots at everyone. Tosh was so quiet she was practically a ghost. Ianto had snuck up stairs to order lunch from their favourite Chinese restaurant in the hopes of calming everyone down. Meanwhile, the office needed a good spring cleaning, and Ianto had

The bell chimed cheerfully from over the door. Ianto turned, and his heart sank. The young tourist, Dani, slipped into the tourist office, and blinked in the dim light. Ianto straightened his shoulders, and put on his polite and helpful face.

"Can I help you?" Ianto quickly plastered polite smile on his face.

"This is going to sound a little strange, but…do I look familiar?" The young woman looked troubled.

"No, should I?" Ianto gave her a curious stare. He hadn't spent so much time learning to disguise his feelings for nothing.

"It's just that…I woke up yesterday morning, but it's wasn't yesterday morning. It was two days later, and it's not the first time. The only thing I have to go on is I had the Tourist Information Office written in my day planner to come here for some background, and interesting places to go."

"I'm sorry, I can't help you—"

"I'm really worried because I can only think of one reason why I would wake up without a memory." The girl was suddenly close to tears. Ianto turned away for a moment to let the young woman get her composure back.

"This time I woke up with this." She lifted her hair to show the cut over her ear, already well healed thanks to Owen. "I went to the hospital, and they said I had a concussion. I wasn't brave enough to ask for an exam." Ianto suddenly stared at the girl. She thought she'd been assaulted? Ianto felt his chest tighten in sympathy for the young woman.

"The head injury could explain the memory loss, couldn't it?" Ianto asked gently.

"Yes, but no one can tell how I ended up in my own hotel room, with a gash on the side of my head, that's been treated, but not at the hospital." Two tears slid down the young woman's face. Ianto pulled the handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the girl.

Ianto was suddenly angry at his sometimes oblivious boss. Jack really should have realized by now that he needed to step up his game with this girl.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious. It looks like you had a minor accident, some samaritan found you, got you medical treatment, and then made sure you got back to your hotel room."

The tourist looked at him in disbelief. "Are you kidding? You think that's the most likely answer?"

"I think that's the answer that will let you sleep tonight." Ianto replied.

The woman looked at him for a long moment. "Who hurt you?" It was as much a statement as a question.

"I don't know what you mean." Ianto's polite mask was firmly back in place. The young woman accepted the implied rebuff.

"Please feel free to use the washroom to clean up." Ianto took his handkerchief back from the young woman, and gestured to the nondescript door to one side of the counter. The tourist slipped past the counter and into the washroom. She emerged a few minutes later, and twisted a half smile at the Welshman.

"Well, thank you for your time, and I'm sorry to fall apart on you. You've been very kind. Maybe I'll try the police." The young woman smiled with troubled eyes. Ianto watched as, she drifted to the door, and out into the sunlight. He was still staring at the door, when the their lunch arrived

Ianto was quiet as he brought the Chinese food into the Hub.

"Jack, we need to talk."

Jack leered "what about?"

"Our tourist." Tosh looked up from her console.

"What about Dani?" Owen had come up from the autopsy bay, lured by the smell of food. Gwen had moved closer as well.

"She came into the tourist office just now."

"We saw, but you seemed to get rid of her fairly quickly. What'd she want? Directions to Brecon Beacons? I hope you warned her about cannibals." Jack chuckled slightly, but Ianto remained serious.

"She knows that she's lost days, and she's put the worst possible conclusion to it." Ianto frowned in concern.

"Which is?" Gwen asked glancing between Ianto and Jack.

"What would you conclude, if you'd gone out the night before, and woke up in your own room, with no memory of what happened? Especially, if it had happened three times in a week?" Ianto turned to Gwen, and waited.

Gwen's face drained of colour. "Date rape?" .

"What?" Jack lost his good humour. "Where'd she get that idea?"

"Because of rohypnol, you idiot." Gwen was becoming more and more upset as she put herself in the young woman's place. "Women are being warned over and over to watch our drinks, and we hear all the horror stories about what missing days means. Of course, she's going to assume the worst!"

"We can't leave her like that." Tosh chimed in, "She doesn't deserve it."

Even Owen was looking troubled. "That could destroy her, Jack. We don't know what that kind of event could do. We've already wrecked her vacation, but we can't destroy her."

"She's strong. She'll be fine." Jack didn't sound completely convinced.

Ianto just continued to stare at Jack as though waiting for him to make the right decision. The silence lengthened, until finally Jack looked up to glare at his team.

"No! I'm not bringing that girl into the Hub again! She know too much as it is!" Jack grabbed the Chinese food, and headed for the conference room. "I'm setting up the food, anyone who wants some, better move now." The rest of the team turned to look at each other. Ianto finally broke the stillness and headed for the archives. Gwen turned and walked slowly back to her desk. Tosh turned back to her computer. Owen seemed to wrestle with himself for a long second before shrugging and heading for conference room.

He paused by Tosh, as she glared reproachfully. "When have I ever passed up free food?"


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I'm trying for angst here. I haven't written a good angsty chapter for a while, so it may need work. Let me know if there's anything I can do to improve it. Thanks again to all the readers and reviewers!! It's nice to know people are interested in this little thing. **

Dani forced herself up from the bed. She went into the living area and checked the door. It was locked, as it had been the every other time she'd checked it. She hated herself for the fear. A week ago, Dani had been strong, confident, brave. Six days ago, when she'd woken up, and realized that she'd lost a day, her life had been rocked, but she'd pulled herself together. She could have gotten drunk on red wine, _even though she never drank red wine_, passed out, and not remembered it _even though she hadn't blacked out on a drunk since she was 18._

Then it happened again. She woke up and it wasn't the next day. It was the day after.

And her world cracked, but it held together even then. She found the bar receipt on the table, and a talk with the hotel bartender showed that yes she'd spent the evening in the bar trying the martini menu. This was more her style _except she only did martini tastings with her friends._ She'd ruthlessly silenced the little voice. She'd just gotten carried away with the martinis.

But then it happened again. It—happened—again. Her world shattered, and she had gone away…

Dani had woken up curled up into a ball on the floor with her back against the wall. She didn't know how long she'd been there. Only the noise of the maid's key in the door had pulled her out of her shock. She'd pushed herself up the wall, and rushed into the bathroom. There she'd gotten the next shock. A livid black bruise that still marked the side of her face jumped from the bathroom mirror.

She'd done what she could. She'd gone to the hospital, and they'd checked her over for injuries. The doctor commented on the nearly healed cut over her ear. Fear sparked in her chest, again. She'd been hurt more than once!? When!? She hadn't had any marks before the missing days, and she didn't remember anything after the first or the second episode of lost time. But would she remember? She should've checked for injuries after those missing days! She left the hospital, afraid to ask the question she really wanted answered. She turned to her day planner for information, and found directions to the Cardiff tourist information office. The young man behind the counter, (who had seemed familiar…) had been very kind, but ultimately unhelpful. She'd felt something from him beyond the polite sympathy he projected, but she'd backed away, too wrapped up in her own problems to dig into another person's. The fear had continued to expand to fill her chest and crawl up her throat. She'd gone to the police, and had gotten no where. They'd even suggested that she'd made up some story to cover a one night stand! The anger had had one benefit. It had chased the fear into a tiny corner, and let her get back to her hotel room without searching every shadow.

Now, she couldn't leave the room. She'd tried. She had made it to the open door, but she couldn't force herself through it to the hallway. Instead, she'd placed a Do Not Disturb sign on the door, closed and locked it. Since then she'd checked the door every fifteen minutes. She couldn't help herself. She didn't know how she'd lost her memory, and it had happened three times in a week. She couldn't face going out, and she hated the fear that strangled her every time she tried. What had happened to her? What was she going to do? Whatwasshegoingtodo?Whatwasshegoingtodo?Whatwasshe—

A knock on the door broke through obsessive circling of her thoughts. She stared at the door. She didn't know anyone here, and she hadn't ordered breakfast yet. No one should be knocking. She took a small step toward the door.

"Who is it?" Her voice cracked.

"My name's Ianto Jones. I work at the tourist office?" she remembered the pleasant baritone, and could picture the face that belonged to it, but what was he doing here? An unpleasant thought came to her: What if he's part of this. The fear stretched out to grip her body.

"Hello? Please, I'd like to talk to you." The voice had become slightly pleading.

She used her anger to twist away from the fear.

"Go away! I don't know what happened to me, but you had something to do with it!" her voice began to shake, and undermined her words.

"Please let me explain?" The young man's voice made the statement a question.

"You really did this!? Do you think I'm going to let you in here? If you don't leave I'm calling security!" Dani's knees had begun shaking, and she slid down the wall to the floor by the door. Footsteps outside finally signalled that the man had left, and Dani breathed a shaky sigh. Now she just had to get past the door…


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks again to everyone who's reading and reviewing this little story. I hope you're all enjoying it! The song reference is Mo MhÀili Bheag Òg, my recording is by Mary Jane Lamond. It's beautiful if you haven't heard it. Oh and the choir is called the Victoria Gaelic Choir or Guth nan Eilean. (A little trivia for everyone.)**

Ianto watched the young woman sitting in the hotel restaurant, looking like any other tourist ready to start her day of sight seeing. Only a close look showed the shaking hands, and the nervous tension hunching her shoulders. Slight head darts showed that she was watching every movement near her, as though checking everyone for suspicious pills.

Ianto wondered at the strength of the girl sitting across from him. He could tell she was fighting the need to run back to her room. He'd been watching her ever since the disastrous talk he'd had with her through her door. She'd spent the last two days forcing herself to spend more and more time out of the hotel room. She was up to five hours, but Ianto had yet to see her leave the hotel itself. Guilt tore at him, as he witnessed what they had done to the independent and care-free young woman he had met just a week ago. The whole team prided themselves on their ability to manufacture evidence and situations, but they had missed badly on this one, and now this girl was suffering. He couldn't leave her like this.

Ianto had prepared for this encounter. He'd dressed in jeans and a dark tee-shirt, to keep her from recognizing his habitual suits. The last thing he wanted was for her to tie him to her fears. Ianto finished the horrible hotel coffee he'd ordered, stood up and walked toward the young woman as though heading for the door, as he passed her table, he dropped a bar of chocolate and a pamphlet for Joe Coffey's on her table with his name and phone number printed across the top. He hoped it would be enough…

* * *

Ianto absent-mindedly cleaned up the cups, plates, crusts, and pizza boxes from the team's lunch. He had been on eggshells since he'd left his clues for the girl in the restaurant. Ianto had been waiting anxiously for her to call ever since. No one had noticed his nerves, or if they had they hadn't commented on them. He wondered idly if he was really that good at hiding his emotions, or if his friends were that self concerned that his own emotions went unnoticed. Usually Ianto found his teammates' lack of interest in him mildly annoying, but on days like today he blessed them for their oblivion. Ianto took the cups and plates to the kitchen to be washed, threw the pizza boxes in to garbage, and wiped down the conference table almost obsessively. He didn't want to leave himself time to be still. The nerves were worse when he didn't have something to do. He hated going behind Jack's back, but he couldn't leave the young woman in that state. Ianto had been a little surprised by the young woman's reaction. He'd expected her to handle everything better. How can she deal so well with aliens, and dinosaurs, and be thrown by a little memory loss?

Ianto's phone chirped cheerfully, and he glanced around carefully before answering it.

"Hello?"

"What happened to me, and why can't I remember?" She asked calmly. Ianto glanced around a second time.

"I can help you remember, but I can't talk right now. Meet me at the coffee place on the flyer I gave you." Ianto hung up, and took a quick steadying breath.

* * *

She was waiting, when Ianto finally came through the doors. Joe was cleaning one of the coffee makers, and started to greet the young Welshman. A quiet head shake sent him back to his project.

Ianto saw the slightest spark of recognition in the young woman, but he couldn't be sure if it was from the encounter at the tourist office, or from earlier. He sat down opposite the tourist, and waited.

"Alright, you've done something to me that I don't remember, and that the police don't want to get involved with." The girl's natural logic seemed to have reassert itself. "What is going on, and why are you suddenly ready to have me remember it?"

"Let's say that up until recently, you've been an amusing annoyance to my boss. He tends to have one response to annoyances: he wipes their memories, and sends them on their way. However, you've taken that memory loss, and drawn the worst possible conclusions. I couldn't leave you with that, especially when I saw how you were affected."

"I'm not a fragile as you think. I just had to work through things a little. I'd worked out that I probably wasn't raped, but I hate not knowing for sure what happened." The young woman's expression was a combination of indignant and anxious.

"How?" Ianto asked

"No bruises." She responded. "There would've been bruises."

Ianto decided not to argue.

"What—" Inato began, but she interrupted him

"Wait a minute. You're boss wipes memories…" anger rushed into her face. "You wiped my memories THREE TIMES." the young woman's voice rose into a angry shout. She was suddenly standing, glaring at the well dressed man before her. Joe looked up from his coffee maker and then back again. "What didn't it take the first two times?!"

"Basically…"

"What did I get a bad dose?!" The girl looked ready to throw something

"Please sit down, and I'll explain." Ianto said soothingly. He put his hands up to placate the young tourist, and after a few moments she settled back into her chair. She continued to glare at Ianto.

"Retcon, the drug we use, is designed to wipe a person's memories, but it can be…overcome." Ianto paused, but the young woman just continued to glare. "If the person is smart, then strong specific images can trigger the memories. It's why I dropped those things on your table. I was trying to trigger your memories."

"Okay." The woman's glare relaxed slightly.

"You've managed to throw off the retcon twice. It was a partially bad luck, but partially we just weren't careful enough, and you became suspicious." Ianto looked slightly exasperated. "You just kept showing up! We go out on a job, and there you were. Owen would start singing The Cat Came Back, and there you were." He shook his head.

"Owen…I know that name." The anger had been replaced by a searching expression.

"You should. You're one of the few people that Owen has managed not to completely alienate. For some reason, you like him." Ianto shook his head again.

"He looked after this." She gently touched the fading bruise on her face. "He was very…gruff really, but gentle too. He reminds me of…someone." The girl's face dropped into a polite mask. The silence stretched out.

The girl took a deep breath.

"I think I'm going crazy…" She sighed.

"Try me." Ianto waited.

"Okay…a Pterodactyl…" She left the sentence hanging.

"The third time we met you, you were feeding Mafanwy, our guard Pterodactyl, chocolate, and singing an Irish drinking song…Why was that by the way, I never got the chance to ask you."

"I…"Her face showed the struggle, as she tried to remember. "I think, I thought that, as she was a Welsh Pterodactyl, the Gaelic might be close enough to sound familiar." The young woman smiled a little, "It worked, she wouldn't let me sing anything else. I'd sung it three times over by the time you showed up. She'd screech and snap whenever I stopped."

"But where did you get that song." Ianto asked curiously, relaxing as the young woman began to settle down.

"The Victoria Gaelic Choir. I was a member for a while before it conflicted with my classes. It's not an Irish drinking song, by the way, it's Scottish, and Cape Breton. It's about a man who accidently killed his love, and goes to prison for it." She smiled again.

"Cape Breton?" Ianto was enjoying the distraction, and sensed that the tourist was enjoying the break too.

"What? You think Great Britain has the only Gaelic speakers in the world?" The girl suddenly grinned, and Ianto relaxed even more. "I'll have you know there are towns in Eastern Canada that still write their signs in Gaelic." The smile switched off again, and she tensed again.

"Is there anything that I'm going to regret remembering? Are you or your boss going to show up at my door because I remember?" She hesitated. "Is my remembering going to cause problems for you?"

Ianto simply stared. Of all the questions he was expecting these weren't even on the list.

"Why?"

"I need to know the consequences of what you're offering." She looked soberly at Ianto. "You're boss has rufeed me three times, presumably because I learned something dangerous. He can't keep doing this over and over. It's already starting to cause problems, and he's got to be thinking that I have some sort of immunity. I don't want to put my family or friends in danger because he's learned that I still have my memories, again." She looked at Ianto.

"I can't be sure. You've had private talks with nearly everyone at Torchwood, but as far as I know, the only thing you learned is that we exist, and as most of Cardiff already calls us 'Bloody Torchwood,' it's not that big a secret. I'll deal with Jack."

Her face showed sudden recognition "Jack…your boyfriend…your boyfriend is your boss?"

"Yes." Ianto was suddenly uncomfortable with the new turn to the conversation.

"Gotcha."

"It's not like that!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I suggested it was like anything."

"I'm not sleeping with him to get favours!"

"I didn't suggest that. However, being in a relationship suggests that you'll have some sort of influence, whether you like it or not." The tourist raised an eyebrow.

Ianto was quiet. He supposed that was true, and he had to admit it gave him a warm feeling around his heart when he thought about it. He just didn't like the idea of using his influence on Jack. It made the whole relationship seem…calculated.

"I think I remember him." The girl broke the silence, "Dark hair and blue eyes in a world war two costume?" Ianto nodded," He's hot isn't he. Really hot. You'd have to be blind not to be attracted to him. Blind…and deaf, and probably lacking a sense of smell." The girl shrugged. "At least he has the good taste to go after someone like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ianto asked defensively

"Most people that good looking end up with a bimbo. You know, good looking, but with less intelligence than the average cat. With you, he's got a guy that is smart enough to keep him challenged. Of course, he probably went for the looks first, and got the brains as a side benefit. I think I could like him, if he'd stop wiping my memories." The girl looked thoughtful.

"You're changing the subject.' Ianto stared at her suspiciously.

The girl shrugged, but didn't deny it. "I tend to turn things off myself when I'm uncomfortable. It's easier to focus on other people than on my own problems."

"Do you want to remember what happened?" Ianto asked.

"I don't think I have a choice any more." The girl smiled though. "Now that I know I met a Pterodactyl, I have to find out what else is real. Also, I think I need to talk to your boss."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi again! There are some weird formatting issues that I can't fix, so it's going in as is. Thanks again to the readers, and reviewers. They're almost as good as chocolate! **

The alarm alerted to the opening of the cog door. None of the team were particularly bothered, Ianto had gone out on some errands a few hours before, and was expected any time. Tosh glanced up from her screens, and froze; she stared at Ianto and the young woman standing behind him. Slowly she slipped off her chair, and glided to the door. The tourist was back again, and this time invited.

"What happened Ianto? What is she doing here?"

"I—" Ianto began, but the young woman cut him off.

"It seems I can't lose my memories. They keep coming back." The young woman smiled, and glanced at the well-dressed man beside her. "I ran into Ianto as he came back from his…whatever he was doing, and it all came rushing back." She shrugged.

"If it isn't the cat!" Owen wandered out from the kitchen with a cup of tea, and a grin.

"Excuse me?"

"The cat who came back." Owen continued to grin. "Not quite the next day, though. You'll need to work on that, if you really want to annoy Jack. He'd almost relaxed this time."

The tourist's face twisted into something like a smile, but her eyes remained serious. She turned and caught Jack standing at the railing by his office.

"Ianto!!" Jack's voice cracked across the Hub, and Ianto winced. "In my office NOW!"

"No!" The young woman stepped in front of the archivist, and spoke firmly. "It's my turn to talk with you. You've talked with everyone, but me, and I've talked with nearly everyone, but you" she glanced apologetically at Tosh, and then turned back to face Jack. "It's time we compare notes."

Jack glared at the woman for a long moment. Finally he spun around and swept back into his office. The girl glanced back at the three team members questioningly.

"That's about the only invitation you're likely to get." Owen shrugged, masking his sudden worry with indifference. Ianto and Tosh nodded agreement, and the girl headed for the stairs up to the office.

"By the way, I can't remember if I've told any, or all of you this, but I prefer Dani, to 'the Cat.'" With that she marched up the stairs, knocked on the office door, and entered.

Jack sat at his desk reading through some papers. He overtly ignored the young woman standing by the door. The girl hesitated a moment, before coming forward and sitting on the chair in front of the desk, and began studying the office, and the man in front of her. The silence deepened.

Finally, Jack looked up over his papers.

"So, my whole team likes you enough to threaten to mutiny."

"I'm Canadian. We're the Golden Retrievers of the world. We like to be liked."

Jack shook his head. "That's quite the description."

"It's not mine, and don't think it was originally meant to be a compliment, but I liked it when I heard it." She shrugged.

"So what am I supposed to do with you?" Jack sighed.

"I suppose there's always the bay."

"Not if I want my team to continue talking to me." Jack joked

"Well, that is a problem…What about if I promise to never, ever tell, cross my heart and hope to die." Her innocent expression was lost to her twitching lips.

"Oh, so long as you promise." Jack chuckled. He sobered, and the two stared at each other, again. The girl broke her gaze first, glancing out the glass doors at the three team mates, who were still standing together watching the office.

The girl sighed.

"Okay, so we're at an impasse. You don't trust me, and I don't blame you. You don't know me. Yet, you're super amnesia pill doesn't seem to work on me. So the question is: what do you need so that you will feel comfortable trusting me?"

"What?"

"What do you need from me so that you can trust me?"

"What I need…I need coffee." Jack stood up abruptly, and left the office.

The young woman smiled slightly as Jack passed the coffee machine, and made a beeline for his three teammates.

Jack tried to look casual, as he headed for Tosh, Owen and Ianto. The woman's question had rattled him. He was used to people asking for trust, but it wasn't often that people asked to earn that trust. Especially not in the 'me' generation of the twenty-first century.

He reached the team, still shaking his head.

"She asked what she could do to make me more comfortable. Who asks that?"

Ianto looked sympathetic "She does." Owen smirked.

"You've left her in your office?" Tosh's voice made the statement a question

"I told her I was getting coffee." Jack said. Ianto headed off to make coffee.

"Right, 'cause none of us would have told her about Tea-boy and his relationship with the coffee machine. Not to mention that she's tasted Ianto's. Oh, or that you walked past the coffee machine to get to us." Owen murmured sarcastically. Ianto glared at him over his shoulder.

"If she didn't know it was pretence, then she shouldn't have made it into the Hub." Jack shrugged. "Lets go back to the reason I'm down here instead of up there."

"Well I don't know what to tell you. I've given up on figuring out the workings of your mind. Half the time it's like you don't even trust us. The other half of the time, you trust us, even after we've betrayed you. In fact, you seemed to trust us more after we betrayed you. You're going to have to work this one out on your own, mate."

Owen leaned up against the wall, and crossed his arms.

Ianto glided back with two cups of coffee, and handed them to Jack.

"The dragonfly cup is yours, the red cup is for Dani." Ianto gently grabbed Jack's shoulders, turned him around, and pushed him toward the stairs. "I think if you give her a chance, you'll find that she really wants to help you."

The young tourist was still sitting where Jack had left her, watching the door. He put the red cup down on the desk in front of her, and returned to his own chair. He took a sip of the coffee, and savoured the taste as it slid down his throat. The girl had picked up her own cup, and appeared to be lost in the sensations. Jack smiled as she slowly came back to the world.

"Ianto will be gratified by someone who appreciates a good cup of coffee."

"Someone with this kind of skill should be getting paid like a rock star to use it."

"Coffee's only one of Ianto's many skills and you're right he doesn't get paid half of what he's worth."

"I hope he gets proper compensation." The girl commented.

"I make sure he gets plenty of compensation." Jack leered back.

"I'm sure you do." The woman said dryly, "I'm also sure he does more for you than you do for him."

"Excuse me! What's that supposed to mean?" Jack was getting tired of being behind the conversation.

"Only that the man uses his, very considerable, mind to anticipate your every need."

"He does that for everyone."

"You know it's not the same."

"Yes. I know."

"Good. I like him. I'd be sad if I thought he was with someone who didn't appreciate him."

Jack took another sip of his coffee, and stared into the cup. His thoughts were spinning. What was he supposed to do with a complete stranger who couldn't seem to stay out of the Hub? On top of that, she was too smart for her own good, and perceptive. She'd fit herself into the group faster than anyone he'd ever seen, except for Martha, and Martha had learned how to fit into any situation from the Doctor.

"You wouldn't know anything about a police box."

"A what?" the young woman looked startled.

"Nothing."

That answered that question. Jack went back to his musing. He could simply kill her and dump her body. He'd done it before, and to people that were more intimately connected to his team members than this girl. Somehow, he knew that this was different. The others had been attackers, clear threats to the team and to Torchwood, and no matter how he twisted events; he couldn't make her into a threat. The woman seemed content to sit and wait, but suddenly her presence made Jack edgy.

"I need to think this through. Go do something. See if Ianto will let you make coffee. Ask Tosh to show you the rift manipulator. Maybe you can get Owen to let you use his singularity scalpel."

The tourist shook her head. "Rift manipulator…Singularity scalpel?" she muttered, and then suddenly spoke up "Why would Ianto let me try making anything as important as coffee?"

She stood up, and headed for the door.

"Do you want anyone?"

"No. They've all been corrupted by you." Jack grumbled, but with a hint of amusement.

"Alright, is there anywhere you don't want me to go?"

Jack blinked.

"Uh, stay in the public areas, and don't touch anything."

"Alright."


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the delay. Life caught up to me for a while. A continued and heartfelt thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing. It makes me feel all warm and tingly. Not so sure of this one. Let me know, if things start getting off track.**

* * *

"I'm to stay to the public areas, and not touch anything." Dani thumped down the stairs, and dropped onto the couch.

Ianto, Tosh, and Owen glanced at each other. Owen mouthed "public areas?" Ianto shrugged, Tosh's eyebrows rose, and she shook her head.

"What did Jack say?" Tosh asked.

"Exactly what I told you. Oh and he needs to think about it." Dani looked at the three people standing in front of her. "So, where does that leave me?"

"Just…stay in sight of one of us." Ianto said, quickly improvising a solution.

"There are no public areas, are there?" Dani smiled slightly.

"Come on Cat," Owen tapped Dani's shoulder. "You can help me clean up the autopsy bay."

Ianto's eyes rolled. "Which means you can clean up the autopsy bay, and Owen can complain."

"If Toshiko doesn't mind, I thought I'd just sit here and take things in a little." Dani smiled. "It's been a crazy few days."

"I'll get you a cup of coffee." Ianto headed to the kitchen.

"I'd like to check that head wound of yours at some point. Make sure it's healing properly. For now, I'm going to finish cataloguing the specimens in the lab." Owen sighed.

Tosh smiled at Dani, before ducking her head shyly, and turning back to her computer.

By the time Ianto returned with the coffee, Dani was stretched out on the couch sleeping. Ianto grabbed a blanket from a storage bin under the couch, and spread it over the sleeping woman.

"Funny, that she feels safe enough to sleep here. We're essentially strangers to her." Tosh whispered quietly.

"I'd guess she hasn't been sleeping all that well lately, despite all the retconning. It looks like she's going to be out for a while." Ianto turned and smiled at Tosh. "I'm going to work in the Archives. The 'S' section needs a thorough overhaul."

Tosh glanced at the girl, and turned back to her computer.

"What are you working on?" a voice at her shoulder had Tosh turning gun in hand. Dani jerked back hands up. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Especially now that I know you have a gun."

"Sorry, I'd forgotten you were there." Tosh quickly put the gun away. Dani slowly dropped her hands.

"So, what were you working on before I, so rudely, interrupted you?" Dani smiled slightly.

"I'm using a specialized translation program to decode a piece of writing that came through the rift about a week ago."

"The rift?"

"Cardiff is sitting on a temporal spatial rift. Every so often, things come through, and it's our job to investigate those events and protect this world from anything dangerous." Tosh suddenly looked stricken, "I shouldn't have told you that. We're supposed to be completely secret."

"Well, the last couple of times this happened I told Owen, and Ianto that I wouldn't remember it. But as Retcon doesn't work, I'll probably be dead before I can pass anything on."

"Don't even joke about that!" Tosh exclaimed, "We've all lost people to Torchwood, and the rift. If Jack thinks you're a threat, then he won't hesitate."

"I know that, but I have two choices: I can hope for the best, and be happy; or I can worry about it what's going to happen, and be upset." Dani shrugged. "I'd rather be happy than upset. I know it sounds like I'm not being realistic, but it makes my life easier."

Tosh simply stared at the young woman in front of her.

"So what are you translating?" Dani turned back to the monitors around Tosh's work station.

Jack spent the rest of the day closeted in his office. Ianto had taken coffee in a few times, but otherwise the team had left their boss alone. Owen had disappeared back to the autopsy bay, and only the occasional "Oi. Tea-Boy! Coffee!" was the only evidence that he was still in the Hub. Dani and Tosh were sitting at her workstation chatting, and giggling, over something that sounded suspiciously like an intergalactic pub quiz. Ianto smirked at the comments being passed back and forth, as he set two cups of coffee down by the women: "I don't know what a Fargarbin is, let alone how many of them can fit into a Griblet!" "Well, I'd guess that Zugreb is buried in the Zugreb's tomb." "When was Tleeson's classic song "I've got a Hesblat in my Zarf" written!? That almost sounds pornographic."

"Tosh, Owen, Ianto finish up whatever you're doing and head out. See you bright and early tomorrow." Jack's voice called out over the comms.

Tosh looked uncertain. Dani just smiled

"It's okay. It'll be fine."

"What are we going to do with you?" Tosh asked, "I can't just leave you here on your own."

"I seem to be hearing that question a lot lately." Dani grinned

"So Cat, you're still causing problems, are you?" Owen's smile didn't reach his eyes.

"I can't stay here by myself, apparently." Dani teased gently. She smiled at Tosh to take the sting out of her words.

"Well no, of course not. You'd probably push all the buttons that you're not supposed to touch, especially the big ,red ones, then feed Mafanwy maple sugar, and then let the weevils, teach them to juggle, and take them on a tour of the Lake districts." Ianto tried to sound teasing, but his eyes showed his anxiousness.

"At least!" Dani chuckled. She sobered slightly "You really should go. I'll be fine, or if I'm not I'll be dead and I won't notice it."

"Still not funny. I'll miss you if you aren't here." Tosh said, but she grabbed her coat, and turned to Owen. "Well, Owen. I think I need a drink. Would you care to join me?"

"Sure why not? I could do with getting off my face tonight. Good night Cat, I hope you, and the Hub, are still here in the morning."

With that, the two walked out the cog door.

"See you tomorrow, Ianto." Dani said quietly.

"Actually, I'm not finished with what I'm doing, and so I can't leave yet. If you like, you can help me with resorting the 'T' section?"

"Ianto, I believe you're trying to guard me." Dani looked at the young man suspiciously.

"Not at all. I trust Jack to make the appropriate decision. I'll be up in a little while, and I'll give you a lift to your hotel." Ianto stated firmly. He turned and headed back to his archives, leaving Dani alone by Tosh's workstation.

"What is she doing?" Jack had come out of his office, and found Ianto on the stairs watching the young woman.

"I believe she's dancing with Mafanwy." Ianto replied. The Pterodactyl stood over the girl as she swayed and twirled. Dani had her arms spread out, mimicking Mafanwy's wings, and she waved them to a song neither of the men could hear. Slowly the girl turned, and the Pterodactyl followed her move.

"Did you know she could do that?" Jack couldn't pull his eyes from the scene in front of him.

"Did I know who could do what? That Mafanwy could mimick, or that Dani could make that kind of connection with our Pterodactyl?"

"Yes"

"No" Ianto smirked at the look on Jack's face, "to either question."

"She's really amazing isn't she?" Jack continued to watching.

"Yes, Sir, she really is. Have you decided what you're going to do with her, yet?" Ianto turned away from the remarkable sight, and looked at Jack.

"I don't know. It would be a crime to take her out of the world, but I can't leave her like this. If I could find the doctor, I'd be tempted to tell him I'd found his new companion."

The girl caught sight of the two men, and stopped suddenly, blushing. She pulled the ipod's ear buds from her ears. She stared at the men, and waited.

"You're going to stay in the Hub for the next while. I'll make sure you get the chance to do some touristy things, but I need you where we can keep an eye on you."

"Alright. Do you have somewhere for me to sleep, here? And can someone get my clothes, and things?"

"I think we can set up a fairly reasonable guest room here, but for now, I think Dani will be more comfortable in the guest room in my apartment." Ianto spoke firmly

"No, I've got somewhere where she can sleep." Jack worked to keep the leer off his face, but from the look on his companions' faces, he hadn't succeeded. Jack added a look of injured innocence. "I'll sleep on the couch, she can sleep downstairs. We can work out something more permanent tomorrow." Jack turned to Ianto, "I know you say I can trust her, and I think you're probably right. But I don't trust her enough to leave her with only you as guard."

"So you can guard her on your own, but I can't? What, I haven't proved my competence to you?" Ianto glared a Jack.

"No, it's just that you and I both know that I'm…" Jack glanced at Dani,"uniquely qualified to deal with threats."

Dani quietly climbed the stairs to stand before the two arguing men.

"Jack don't be ridiculous! I'm perfectly capable of looking after one human threat for one night!"

"Ianto! It's not up for negotiation! I will guard our guest! Now go home!"

"I hate to interrupt, but I think I have a solution." Dani broke in "Look, all I need is a bed, and all that you seem to need is a secure room for me to sleep in. This shouldn't be that hard." Dani glanced between the two men before her, "Do you have cells?"

"I'm NOT having you sleep in a cell!" Ianto stared at the girl as if she'd turned blue.

"Why not? It means your safe and I'm safe. Just the ticket."

"Jack, this is foolish. Dani won't hurt me, but if you're so worried about it, then transfer the rift alert to your wrist strap, and come with us. Either way, she is sleeping in my guest room." Ianto glared at the two chastened people in front of him. He turned to head for the cog door, muttering, "In a cell!?"

Jack and Dani glanced at each other. Jack gestured, and the two silently followed Ianto out the door, through the tourist office and out to Ianto's car.


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay this is purely self indulgent. It doesn't further the story in any way. It just popped into my head and I couldn't resist writing it. **

**Continued thanks to all the readers and reviewers. Hope you enjoy!**

Dani sat in the bed, listening to the half whispered conversation going on outside her door.

"Jack, she's not going anywhere, she's work too hard to get back to the Hub for her to suddenly up and leave. Just come to bed." Ianto sounded annoyed. Dani wondered idly what Ianto had had planned when he'd invited Jack home; certainly not a cold bed.

"Look, I know you trust her; that everyone trusts her, but I can't yet. Besides, if she's as great as you all think she is, then she won't mind my guarding her door.

"I DON'T!" Dani called.

"See. I know she's probably everything you think she is, but I can't just leave you unprotected. It'll be fine. I don't sleep anyways."

Dani heard a door close with just a little too much force, and smiled sympathetically for Ianto. Cold bed it is. Jack better be ready to make it up to the young Welshman. She ghosted over to the bookshelf and selected a book at random. She went back to the bed, and settled in to enjoy.

Ianto stared at Jack lying prone on the floor. He thought about waking him, but a little devil left his lover sleeping. He wandered into the kitchen where Dani sat reading Lost in a Good Book, and eating toast.

"That's the second book in the series."

"I know. I read the first one last night." Dani responded without looking up.

Ianto stood for a moment, debating.

"Do you want to explain?"

This time Dani did look up, and the innocent expression didn't fool Ianto for a second.

"Explain?"

"Jack?" Ianto crossed his arms and tried to look stern.

"Well, he was expecting something bad to happen. I couldn't disappoint him." Her eyes twinkled, and she closed the book. "If you make coffee, I'll make pancakes?"

Ianto decided to let the matter drop for now. He'd have to remember to get pictures. They'd come in handy if he needed to influence Jack's decisions. Another thought occurred to him.

"One more question: where did you get the thread?"

Dani pointed to three empty spools sitting on the counter. "I never go anywhere without supplies. You never know when you might come across something that needs to be sewn down."

"What the…Ianto? Ianto answer me!" Jack's voice started to edge into panic.

"One moment, Sir." Ianto got up from the table, and came to stand in the hall. Dani watched discretely over his shoulder. Jack was trying to break the threads that crisscrossed every inch of him. Ianto had a flash of an illustration from his childhood book of Gulliver's Travels.

"Yes, Sir?" Ianto leaned against the wall and tried not to laugh at the sight of his boss, sewn to the carpet. A glance at Dani suggested that she was perfectly composed. It was only when Ianto looked more closely that he could see she was shaking with the effort of holding back laughter.

"Well, are you going to help me!" Jack was furious.

"There's a pair of scissors by your right hand, sir." Ianto was enjoying this. If Jack had come to bed last night like Ianto had asked him to…

Dani, prudently slipped back into the kitchen, as Jack cut through the multitude of threads.

"Where is she!" Jack looked ready to pull out his Webley, and shoot her

"Blood is very hard to get out of the carpet, Sir." Ianto eyes twinkled, but he'd managed to keep his polite mask.

"I asked you where she is." Jack's eyes were steely.

"I'm in the kitchen." Dani's voice sounded amazingly composed.

Jack charged into the kitchen and stood glaring at the young woman, who was standing in front of the stove, slipping three pancakes out of the pans she had been working with, and onto a plate. She turned, scooped a mound of mixed berries onto the pile, and added a generous dollop of whipped cream.

"Maple syrup?" Dani asked, her face a mask of innocence.

"You sewed me to the floor." Jack was proud of how calm he sounded.

"Yes."

"You sewed me to the floor!"

"You seemed like someone who likes to be tied down." Dani's lips twitched.

The moment was broken by a strangled chuckle from the door. Jack turned to see Ianto leaning against the kitchen door, trying to laugh without making any noise.

Jack thought he heard a giggle from behind him, but Dani continued to look innocent when he'd turned back. Finally, he snatched the plate from the young woman, and sat down at the table. Dani turned to the coffee maker, poured two cups of coffee and placed them in front of Jack's and Ianto's plates. She then sat down and continued with her own breakfast. Ianto wiped his eyes, sat down and took a sip from his coffee. The rest of the morning continued in silence, broken only by the occasional giggle, which always caused Jack to glare in outrage at the offender.

Jack crashed through the cog door, up to his office, and slammed into his office. Tosh jumped in alarm and stared at Jack's office. Dani and Ianto followed more slowly, looking a combination of strained and smug. They avoided each other's eyes. Ianto headed for the coffee machine, and Dani sat down on the couch. Owen and Tosh looked between Jack's office, Ianto's retreating back, and turned to Dani.

"I take it you had a fun evening." Owen sat down beside Dani.

"_I_ did." Dani replied with a slight smirk.

"What happened?" Tosh asked, curiosity lighting her face.

"What did you do?" Owen's question was more demanding.

"…It's probably worth my life to tell you…literally. Owen you said you wanted to run some tests?" Owen nodded, preoccupied with finding a way to pry the information from the young woman "I think we should go do those, don't you?" She rose from the couch and walked briskly toward the autopsy bay. The cog door alarm signalled the arrival of the last team member. Gwen sauntered in, and stopped to take in the looks of her team mates.

"What did I miss?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay. Still trying to get my life together.**

**Thanks for the reviews! I'm shameless when it comes to praise. I love every word, even the prepositions. Hope you keep enjoying the story!**

Owen dropped into an empty chair across from Jack. Ianto set mugs of coffee in front of Owen, Gwen and Jack before settling down in his own chair. Gwen gave a grin to Ianto before sipping appreciatively from her cup.

"So?" Jack looked inquiringly at Owen, waiting for his diagnosis.

"So, I've run every test I could think of. I even made up a few new scans, but all I've gotten so far is that Dani has an addiction to shrimp chips."

"What?" Jack shook his head.

"Just from the levels of Selenium, and Choline in her system, I'd say she has at least a bag a day of Shrimp Chips."

"What are shrimp chips?" Gwen glanced from Jack to Owen, waiting for an explanation

"Exactly what they sound like. It's shrimp cut up and dried as snack food. Don't ask me where the Cat found them in Cardiff, I have no idea." Owen smirked at Jack's incredulous face.

"I don't think she likes the name Cat, Owen. Maybe you should give her a break." Gwen remarked.

"Yeah, like I stopped as soon as I found out that Ianto didn't like the name Teaboy." Owen snapped. Ianto rolled his eyes, and took a sip of his coffee.

"So, is there anything in these—shrimp chips?—that could neutralize the retcon." Jack brought the conversation back to the topic

"Jack we live by the ocean. Shrimp is pretty common here." Owen stared at his boss derisively.

"So, why has she managed to throw off the retcon three times!" Jack growled.

Gwen responded. "I think it's a combination of things: she's very observant and persistent, we haven't been as careful in our cover ups as we should be, and we've had some atrocious luck." She turned a persuasive look to her team mates. "Think about it, that's how I overcame the retcon."

"Three times?! She's managed to regain her memories three times. There's no way!" Jack scanned the faces of his team, looking for the practical joke.

"Except each time she's run across a specific, vivid image that's triggered her memory." Gwen commented. "Mafanwy, the Pyrofile, and…what did she see the last time?" Owen turned to Ianto.

Ianto shrugged mimicking casual, "I don't think she mentioned it, but she'd seen me in the tourist office. Maybe that was enough." There was no way he was going to mention the extra meetings, or the objects he'd used to trigger her memory. The others seemed to accept his excuse, although Jack was giving him a strange look.

"Where is the tourist anyway?" Jack looked at his team.

"Oh, I've got her disinfecting the autopsy bay. Tosh is keeping an eye on her while she's working. Turn on the monitors, if your really worried about her." Owen leaned back casually, smiling.

Jack got up to flip on the internal cameras. The young woman was swabbing the floor with an ancient mop.

"Why isn't she using the radio-disinfection ray?" Ianto asked curiously, "It works better than whatever she's got in that bucket."

"I didn't want her to finish the job while we were talking, so I didn't tell her about it." Owen smirked. Jack watched the image of the girl manhandling the mop into a bucket of foamy water. "Well, at least she's making herself useful." Jack straightened up and turned back to the team.

"Alright, Owen I want to keep working on the tourist problem." Owen look said plainly that he thought it was a waste of time. "I know you think it's just luck, but I can't accept that the girl has that much good luck."

"How about WE have that much bad luck." Owen muttered under his breath. He pushed himself up out of his chair, and left the room. Jack growled and marched off to his office and the rest of the team left the conference room, and headed back to their projects.

Dani poured the disinfectant onto the metal table and wiped it down. Owen leaned against the counter and pretended to catalogue the supplies that he'd catalogued the day before.

"So, you're not going to tell me what happened last night?" Owen tried to sound casual with curiosity eating him alive.

"Ask Jack." Dani smiled maliciously. "I'm sure he won't mind telling you."

"Thanks, I like my head." Owen paused for a second, "you know, you keep encouraging me to do things that will get me killed. Very odd behaviour for someone who claims to like me."

"Sorry, it's the devil in me, but of course you're too smart to listen. Besides, you think I don't know how much trouble I'd be in if _I_ talked?"

"Oh, come on. What could you possibly have seen? Or heard? Was it something you heard? Was it juicy?"

Suddenly Dani smiled. "Only that Jack is extremely protective…and likes to be tied up."

"Oh! Oh god! You couldn't keep that to yourself!" Owen shuddered. "I do not need to hear about the amorous adventures of my boss, and the tea-boy." He headed for the stairs.

"But they were so cute together! It's like no one else is even in the room!" Dani raised her voice to follow Owen up the stairs. "And Ianto's got amazing breath control!!"

Owen nearly covered his ears as he fled the room. "I'm going for a long lunch. I need to find something to scrap these images out of my head!" Dani simply smiled and went back to her cleaning.

"What did you tell Owen?" Ianto was leaning against the wall, watching Dani.

"What?" Dani smiled. She had moved on to the counters.

"What did you tell Owen that chased him out of the autopsy bay?" Ianto moved into the room. "Did you tell him about this morning?" a note of warning crept into his voice.

Dani's smile turned into a grin. "I simply told him about yours and Jack's intimate relationship."

"You don't know anything about our intimate relationship." Ianto looked suspicious."

"I told Owen all about your breath control, and focus, oh and that Jack likes to be tied up." Dani tilted her head as she gave Ianto a bright eyed stare, "was I wrong?"

Ianto laughed. "It's probably the only thing you could say that would get him off your back." He smiled, "Thank you for not letting anything slip. I'm not sure Jack would forgive you if the team found out you'd caught him sleeping and sewn him to the carpet"

"It's not anything that Owen needs to know about. I shouldn't have done it in the first place." Dani looked a little chagrined. "I wouldn't have been surprised if Jack had tried to beat me to death with his own hands."

"I did see his hand edging toward his gun. Don't worry, he'll get over it, eventually,"

"What was the whole sleeping on the floor thing about anyway?" Dani asked, "What was he expecting me to do?"

"I don't know." Ianto sighed.

"Jealousy?" Dani asked hesitantly.

"No." Ianto rejected that out of hand, "he's made it pretty clear that I'm not his first choice. I'm not even his first choice on the team. That would be Gwen."

"Which proves that he's a fool, after all. Too bad." Dani grimaced, then shrugged. "You're sure?" Ianto nodded, "Why do you stay with him?"

"It's complicated, and not something I want to talk about." Ianto felt a sudden crash of depression

Dani was quiet for a moment. She slapped the cloth onto the counter, and swiped a hand across her forehead.

"So, with all the super space age technology around here, you don't have anything that cleans better than bleach?"

"I'm surprised Owen didn't get you the radio-disinfection ray." Ianto pulled out a small hand held device, and began sweeping it across the surfaces in the autopsy bay.

"I did ask. I believe he muttered something about 'it' being above my security clearance. I think he just wanted more time to grill me about last night." Dani grinned again. She dragged the bucket of water over, and emptied it into a nearby drain. She put the bucket and mop away, and turned to Ianto.

"Now what?"

"How about checking out your living quarters?" Ianto smiled.


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay so it's another sort of nowhere chapter (I think I'm beginning to worry about the ending-mainly how I'm going to end it.) I have no idea if any of this would actually happen, but here it is.**

"Okay, where is she?" Jack was on his latest "Dani check." Every few hours, he'd leave his office, come out into the Hub, find Dani, and then go back to work. It was getting to the point that the team were making bets on the time between Dani checks.

Owen looked up, "She's helping Tosh defrag the hard drive on the back up computer system; no wait, she's cleaning and sterilizing my autopsy tools; no, no Ianto has asked her to relabel the files in the archive."

"Actually that's a good job for her; some of those labels are really starting to fade out." Ianto commented.

"I'll ask again, where is she?" Jack spoke with infinite patience. "And why isn't she being watched?"

Without missing a beat in her typing, Tosh turned one of the screens on her desktop for Jack to see. Dani was centered in the screen, curled up in a comfortable overstuffed chair, a sheaf of papers in one hand, and a red marker in the other.

Jack growled, "alright, one more time, Where—Is—She?"

"D level, room 4. We've turned those storage rooms into a set of guest rooms." _In case this happens again _hung unspoken in the air between the teammates. "You'll need this," Ianto handed Jack a key.

Jack growled something his team couldn't hear, and strode across the Hub and disappeared down the stairs.

Dani looked up as Jack knocked, then unlocked and entered the room. She smiled, and put the papers down.

"Hi Jack. Another check already? I lost track of time."

Jack was ignoring her, staring at the tastefully appointed room she inhabited. The grungy, dark store room had been transformed into an elegant sitting room. The walls on either side of the doors gave access to several adjoining rooms, presumably similarly transformed. Jack began examining the room. A sofa and several overstuffed chairs had been arranged into conversation groups around a geometrically patterned carpet. A mural of a Japanese maple tree swept up one wall, and provided a focal point.

"I really need to give Ianto a raise." Jack muttered under his breath.

"Actually, I think you'll find that this is Tosh's room. Though, Ianto still deserves a raise for putting this all together." Dani watched the man prowling the room with some amusement.

Jack turned to her, "excuse me."

"I'm pretty sure Tosh designed this room." Dani continued to smile, "note the Asian influence." She pointed at a beautiful vase sitting on a shelf by the door.

"So you're saying Tosh is a interior designer in her spare time?" Jack asked.

"Just looking at the rooms down here, I'd say that your team decided to find out who had the biggest interior decorator chops. Three of the four doors off this room are bedrooms."

Jack shook his head. "Really?"

"Try the first door on the left. I'm pretty sure it's Owen's"

Jack opened the door to a white walled room. A queen-sized bed with blue linens and a blue patterned duvet, was centered on a wall with matching and night tables on either side. A flat screen TV was the only decoration in the room.

"It's not too bad. A little sparse, but not bad."

"Are you kidding? A hotel room would be better. I have a very clear picture of how this room was decorated. Owen walked into…well at home it would be the Bay or some other department store, and up to the first pretty female sales clerk he could find. He then spent the next several hours buying everything she told him to, because he was trying to impress her, and sent it all back here for someone else to put into this room. He was just lucky she had relatively decent taste. Apparently, they both forgot that people need places for their clothes."

Jack laughed. He could see Owen doing exactly that.

"You want to see Ianto's room?" Dani grinned from the doorway. Jack's eyebrows raised. He crossed to the door directly across.

"Wow, this is not Ianto's room. I'd bet my life…"

"I'm guessing that too. Personally, I'm going with Gwen." If the young woman noticed the strange look of Jack's face, she had decided to ignore it. The room was a bright cheerful yellow, and crowded with a queen sized bed, and a matching bedroom set, with dresser, and two night tables. Another table and a pair of chairs were squashed into a corner. The walls were covered with shelves of books and knick-knacks and pictures of sunflowers.

"It's a little too aggressively…happy, for me. I feel like I'm being convinced of something very important." Dani commented, as Jack picked up a China dog from a shelf.

"It is a little relentless isn't it?" Jack smiled at the similarities between the room and his team member.

"Okay, so Ianto's, or the one I think is Ianto's, is the other door on this wall"

She led the way to the last door, and with a flourish swung the door open for Jack to enter.

The room was a soothing sage green, and featured an antique bed, and matching furniture. An antique lamp sat on the night table beside the bed, a wardrobe was tucked into a corner, a set of bookshelves, with a selection of books, sat within reach on the other side of the bed. A print of a rocky landscape filled the wall over the bed and a small caricature drawing of a king graced the opposing wall. Jack took a second look, suddenly realized it was a map of Wales made to look like a king. He smiled at the whimsy Ianto rarely displayed to others.

"I'd sleep here, except I think that's how they're deciding who wins, and I don't want to give them the satisfaction." Dani grinned.

"So, what are doing?" Jack asked amused.

"Well, I came to the conclusion that Tosh got the sitting room because she didn't want to compete, so I've been sleeping in there." Dani replied, grinning. "Besides, I think I would have liked her bedroom if she'd done one." Her smile became softer.

"What about the lock on the door?" Jack asked.

"You don't trust me, and I can't spend all day, everyday with one of your team. They have plenty to do without babysitting your problem child. This seemed like a good compromise. They have cameras in most of the rooms, so they can keep an eye on me. I get the illusion of privacy. It works all around."

"What I don't get is why you're so accommodating. Doesn't all of this bother you?" Jack stared at the young woman.

"Of course it does. I'm used to going where I want and doing what I want, but if I started causing problems then you have more excuses to kill me, and less excuses for letting me go. By the way, my family is going to start worrying if I can't phone them soon." Dani looked at him, and half smiled.

"We've checked you out of your hotel and left a lead saying that you were travelling up the coast, and won't be reachable for a week or two. We couldn't do anything for your family, but if they do check on you, then that's what they'll get." Jack replied.

"Except my parents will never believe that I would pack up and head up the coast without telling them ahead of time. So, they're going to come here, poke around and yell until they get answers they're satisfied with." Dani continued. "You don't think I was born this stubborn, do you?" She paused, then seemed to make up her mind about something. "If you have to, you can listen in to my conversation with my mother and father." She growled. Jack was interested at the first sign of annoyance the young woman had shown since she'd gotten involved with Torchwood.

"What, we can kidnap you, imprison you for days, video tape every moment of your life here, but you get annoyed with us listening to your phone calls. It's good to know you've a line somewhere." Jack leaned against the wall and smirked at the girl.

"I don't want you anywhere near my family!" Dani replied heatedly. She took a deep breath, and consciously let the tension leave her. Jack's eyebrows had risen to his hair line with surprise.

"I know that this group of people are your family, and you're trying to protect them. I'm trying to prove to you that I'm no threat. They are safe. You need to do the same thing for me. I need to know that you're not going to go find my family, and put them in danger because of me." She looked at Jack, "I will promise to never speak of Torchwood as long as you give me the same promise to leave my family alone."

"Like I'd travel to a deep freeze just to kidnap a family with a name that's probably as common a mud. Never happen." Jack scoffed. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to calm the young woman's fear. The girl smiled. She walked over and kissed Jack on the cheek.

"Thank you."


	15. Chapter 15

"Alright enough!" the young tourist crashed through the doors to the conference room, and glared at the members of Torchwood. "I've been here for a week, and you still can't decide whether I'm a danger or not." She turned her glare to Jack. "It's time to make a decision; one way or the other." Dani crossed her arms and stared sternly.

"Well, I haven't made that particular decision so you're just going to have to wait." Jack replied impassively. The truth was that he'd gotten used to the young woman drifting around the Hub, and had been putting off the decision deliberately to keep her there. It seemed Dani had decided to force the issue.

"You're the leader of this group, right?" Jack nodded, and Dani continued her "so, it's not that you can't make decisions." Owen snorted, then quickly began studying the papers in front of him, as Jack glanced at his direction. Dani appeared not to notice this by play. "It's just that, for some reason, you are reluctant to make this one. So, now I'm taking this out of your hands…and giving it to chance." The entire team stared at her as if she'd suddenly turned polka-dotted. Jack shook his head slightly. "You're what?"

"I want this resolved today"

Jack looked at the young woman. "What's the hurry?" He winked. "Haven't we kept you entertained."

"It's not that. I've really enjoyed this week; especially the field trips." Dani smiled. "I particularly enjoyed Techniquest…and the pub crawl afterward."

"When was that?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"You were on a Weevil hunt, and told us to keep Dani out of the way. So, we went to Techniquest, and then on a tour of the local pubs around the Bay. I was sure you joined us…somewhere." Gwen supplied.

"That was the day you found Owen passed out on the autopsy table, Jack." Ianto commented helpfully.

"Oh, that day." Jack grinned. "In other words, he's been punished enough."

"Yes, the week of cleaning cells was plenty, thanks." Owen replied, "How the hell the rest of you managed to avoid Jack is beyond me."

"We didn't end up off our faces in the first place." Gwen murmured. Tosh's grin showed that she at least had heard Gwen.

"So where did you take her?" Jack looked to be setting up for a nice long chat.

"Before you get into the particulars of Dani's Day Out, I'd kind of like to find out if I'm going to die today." Dani was now looking vaguely annoyed by the conversation.

"What's your rush? We can always figure this out tomorrow." Jack glanced at Dani.

"It's not like I don't have ties, Jack. I have family and friends in Victoria that I haven't talked to in a week. They are probably already wondering about me, and soon they're going to start looking for me. So far your cover ups haven't been very impressive, and I'd like to keep my family from being repeatedly abducted and drugged if you don't mind." Dani had moved on to exasperation.

"So…you can phone them. Tell them you were up the coast where there's no cell service." Jack replied.

"Look Jack, I'm loving my unconventional vacation, but I can't stay hidden in the Hub for the rest of my life." Dani grimaced. "I need to go home."

"Well I haven't made a decision yet, so your going to have to." Jack's face was set in a mulishly stubborn expression.

"I propose that we flip a coin. Heads, I end up dead in the bay; tails, I pack my bag and head for home. Deal?"

"You're going to trust your life to a coin toss!" Owen looked like he wanted to check the girl for mental disorders.

"That's crazy! Dani just be patient for a few more days, and I'm sure Jack will send you home soon." Gwen had pulled out her soothing talking-the-jumper-off-the-roof voice, but Dani continued to stare at Jack, challenging.

"Jack, you can't be considering this!" Owen turned to his boss, "She's become unbalanced. It's…obviously a reaction to the repeated doses of retcon." Owen bluffed. Neither Jack nor Dani reacted to his speech.

Tosh looked from one opponent to the other. "Please don't do this." Distress made her voice shake. Ianto simply watched, caught between supporting his boss, and wanting to protect the young woman. Slowly, Jack pulled out a coin a dropped it onto the table. The sound filled the room, as it rolled across the table and stopped front of the girl. She swallowed, and then slid the coin back across the table. "You flip."

Jack picked up the coin, and balanced it on his thumb. "Heads life; tails death, right?" He began to flip, but Dani interrupted. "No you flip, then I call, and I call tails."

"You sure? Wouldn't you rather have heads?" Jack asked.

"Nope. I want tails." Dani was firm.

"Heads are luckier."

Dani stared at the older man.

Jack grumbled something under his breath, then flipped the coin. He didn't catch it, but let the coin fall to the table, where it spun for a moment. Finally, it fell flat on the table top, a tentacled head looking up at the ceiling. Tosh let out a quiet sob, and Owen sank into his chair. Ianto's eyes burned in his suddenly pale face. Dani stared at the coin, her eyes filling with tears. Slowly she looked up with a watery smile.

"Okay, I'm ready. Just make sure you bring your 'A' game to the cover up this time. My family is famous for sniffing out inconsistencies. Where do you think I got it from."


	16. Chapter 16

Sorry about the length of time. I really didn't mean to leave you all in a cliffhanger for so long. It's been a crazy several months. Hope this makes up for it. I'm probably going to end it here, unless I can come up with a good epilogue. Cheers everyone!

* * *

"You were supposed to pick heads."

"What?" Dani swiped at the tears sliding down her cheeks.

"You were supposed to pick heads!" Jack glared at the girl, "I tried to tell you to pick heads. Twice." He picked up the coin, and flipped it to the young tourist. The coin landed in her hand with the other side up. A humanoid face stared up with three eyes at the girl. Dani collapsed slowly into a chair with her head resting against the table.

"That was horrible! Jack how could you!" Tosh looked ready to attack her boss. Ianto had gone pale, and was leaning against the wall as though he needed its support. Gwen was glaring at her boss. "You shouldn't have taken that insane deal in the first place! Who allows someone to bet their lives on a coin toss!"

"She was supposed to pick heads!" Jack replied sheepishly. "I don't have a two tail coin."

"I'd kill you if I could. Unfortunately, it wouldn't take." Owen growled. He turned to glare at Dani, "and what was with that whole self-sacrificing bullshit! What were you thinking! You must be the most insane person I've ever met!" He slammed the table with his fist, lunged up from the table, and turned toward the windows, only his shaking shoulders betraying his distress.

"I'm sorry Owen. I just wanted to get across to everyone that I was serious about getting home. I love it here, but I can't just disappear on my family like this. I can't make the people I love suffer with not knowing what happened to me." Dani finally picked herself up from the chair, and moved to rub the doctor's shoulder comfortingly. "It's not my fault your boss cheats." Owen gave a shaky chuckle.

Jack continued to look sheepishly around at his teammates. "I really was trying to get her to pick heads."

Ianto continued to lean against the wall, his eyes burning in his white face. "This was…This was..." Jack moved to pull Ianto into a fierce hug, murmuring words too quietly for the others to hear.

"I'm sorry Ianto," Dani turned to the two men. "I didn't mean for this to turn into a game of chicken."

Ianto glared at the young woman over Jack's shoulder. "That's exactly what you meant to happen."

"Okay, I didn't realize how my game of chicken would affect all of you, and I apologize for that." Dani held out a hand. Ianto gently pulled away from Jack's comforting arms, and crossed to the girl. He continued to glare at her for a long moment, but took her hand. "Forgiven."

Jack grinned in relief, and turned back to the papers on the table. "So, all's forgiven, and we can get back to the meeting. Dani, see what you can do with the reports for the last Weevil sighting, Owen's handwriting is unreadable."

Ianto stared at Jack disbelief. Slowly his face took on a malicious cast. He casually slid to his chair at the table. "You know Jack, I think the whole trick coin thing was to get back at Dani for sewing you to the floor."

"What!"

"Ianto not one word!"

"Wait a minute, you tied Jack to the floor?"

"When was this?"

"How come we never heard about this?"

"That's priceless!"

The comments blurred together into an incomprehensible rumble, and began in increase into wall of noise, when suddenly it was pierced by a sharp whistle.

Ianto stood staring at his teammates. His face was stern, but his eyes snapped with suppressed humour.

"Enough! Yes Dani tied Jack to the floor, or more accurately sewed him to the floor. It was one and only time she stayed at my home. There might be pictures" the noise began to swell, but Ianto simply overrode it, "BUT I'm keeping them for blackmail purposes." Ianto scanned the room, and turned to Jack. "I assumed at the time that the prank was an expression of supreme frustration and annoyance, which we then ignored for another week." Ianto's eyes hardened as he spoke, "What I'm trying to say is that the last time we ignored Dani, she was quite creative in her outburst. What do you expect to happen if we try to ignore her again? That eventually, she is just going to settle down into Torchwood, with an axe over her head?"

"You can't expect me to rush into this kind of decision. She could be a serious threat to our security." Jack muttered looking slightly shame-faced, and yet defiant.

"Oh come on Jack. No one here believes that you think Dani is a threat. Not since that game of exploding snap you two were playing the other day. You want her to join Torchwood." Owen had joined Ianto in glaring at Jack.

"They're right Jack. Somehow our tourist fits into this little team better than anyone I've ever seen, and you don't want her to leave." Gwen commented quietly.

"We don't need any more people in Torchwood." Jack replied defensively. "Five is plenty, besides she keeps saying that she needs to go home."

"You haven't really given her the choice, Jack. You've kept her here for almost two weeks, and each day she expects you to show up saying 'you're going to die today.' As far as she knows, there are only the two options." Tosh responded.

"She won't stay."

"She deserves the choice."

Suddenly, all eyes turned to the young tourist. Dani stood frozen by the windows staring at the members of Torchwood. How had she gone from potential hazard, to potential team member? She took a deep breath, and tried to compose some sort of response to this latest shock.

"I'm honoured, and I'll probably regret this for the rest of my life, but I can't join Torchwood." Dani's eyes pleaded with the others for understanding. "Jack's right, you really don't need me. I've been doing make work for the last two weeks, and don't try to tell me I haven't." She turned a hard stare at Jack, who snapped his mouth closed on the comment he was about to make. "The only thing you need around here is someone to talk to when things get to be too much."

"See, you could be that person." Jack jumped at the girl's comment. "Everyone talks to you, and you don't talk about what they've told you. You'd be perfect."

"First of all, they should be talking to you, Jack." Dani replied accusingly, "They should be comfortable coming to you when they are having problems, and you should be keeping an eye on them to make sure they're okay." She smiled slightly, "Use that amazing charisma on them. Charm the…" her grin turned mischievous, "I was about to say 'charm the socks off them,' but using charm to remove clothing probably isn't a challenge for you." Jack looked slightly shocked, and Dani shrugged, "I just mean that you'll have a stronger team if you support them."

"Don't hold back, tell me what you really think." Jack looked ruefully at the girl.

"You're wonderful, Jack. You know it." She grinned at him, and received a reluctant grin in return. She turned to the rest of the team. "Besides Jack's right, you don't need someone extra. You were fine before I got here, and you'll be fine once I'm home. If you do need me, call me, and I'll be there for you." She glanced around at five disbelieving faces. "Come on, I haven't fit into a group this well, since…since ever. I couldn't leave you in trouble if I wanted to. I'd be horrified if I thought one of you was suffering, and I didn't try to help."

Jack reached out a pulled the girl into a hug. "I don't suppose there's anything I can do to change your mind?"

"I don't think so." Dani smiled sadly into Jack's face. "Unless you can find me a job here that's more than just make work, and the occasional chat."

"I'll take that as a challenge!" Jack grinned engagingly.

"And meanwhile, I'll settle your travel arrangements." Ianto headed for the door, with a small smile for the young woman.

"Thank you, Ianto," Dani glanced around. "I'll let you get back to your meeting." She slipped out the door.

The team stared at each other, but no one seemed to be able pick up the threads of the discussion. "Meeting adjourned?" Tosh asked finally.

"Yeah, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my office." Jack swept out of the conference room, and the others slowly gathered their reports and headed back to their own spaces.


End file.
